


interpersonal gradients

by fangirl_squee



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23873155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_squee/pseuds/fangirl_squee
Summary: Grand gets two visitors to his tattoo parlor and falls for both. The two visitors have their own romantic confusion.
Relationships: Cascabel/Even Gardner, Gig Kephart/Echo Reverie, Grand Magnificent/Echo Reverie, Grand Magnificent/Gig Kephart, Grand Magnificent/Gig Kephart/Echo Reverie
Comments: 8
Kudos: 28





	interpersonal gradients

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to Lu and Muna, for the idea!!

“You really don’t have to come,” said Echo, for what felt like the hundredth time.

Gig grinned, as undeterred as always. “But you’re getting flowers!”

“I’m getting a floral _tattoo_.”

“And who better to help the tattoo person with the design than me!”

He did have a point. Echo didn’t know any other florists who knew their stuff as well as Gig. Well. They didn’t know any other florists period, but still. Gig would make sure that they didn’t inadvertently pick a floral design that was symbolic of something disastrous, and he wasn’t terrible company.

Gig grinned, stepping in front of Echo so he could walk backwards while facing them. Echo laughed, taking hold of his shoulders and turning him to face the right direction. They could feel Gig lean into them a little, his arm sliding around their side to mirror their arm around him as they walked, and they let themselves lean a little into him too. Gig was so ridiculously tall they could never walk like this for long but Gig never seemed to mind, shortening his steps to keep pace with Echo for as long as Echo cared to walk that way.

Echo let go of him as they got to the door of the tattoo parlour. They looked up at the garish neon _The Crystal Palace_ sign, stark on the jet black building. Even in the bright daylight, the sign still lit everything below it in a pink glow. Inside, the difference in light made the shop look dingy, dark fixtures and the silhouette of a figure walking to a back room.

“Hey,” said Gig, “You don’t have to go through with this if you don’t want to.”

Echo blinked, looking back at Gig. “No, I want to.”

“You sure?” said Gig, “You look kind of…”

“This is just, like, a lot.” Echo waved a hand at the shopfront. “Ballad says it’s the best place in the city though.”

Gig nodded. “So did Morning’s.”

Echo turned back to the door, making a face at the overly-ornate fixtures as they pushed it open.

Inside, the room was less dingy than it appeared from the outside. It was a small, simple room that had more in common with an art gallery that it did to the outside of the building, framed prints of what looked like original designs lining the walls. Echo left Gig admiring the designs and waited at the front counter. When no one appeared after a few moments, they pressed the buzzer on the counter, setting off a series of chimes through the shop.

A man appeared from the back room, his annoyed expression fading as he looked at Echo. “Uh. Hi. I’m Grand.”

“Hi,” said Echo.

“Hi, hello!” said Gig from behind them, “I’m Gig and this is Echo, and they’re here for a tattoo.”

Grand seemed to shake himself a little. “Right, yes, of course. And you have a design in mind?”

“No,” said Echo, “Ballad said you do that part.”

Grand nodded. “Yeah, I- wait, you know Ballad?”

“He’s my brother,” said Echo, steeling themselves for his reaction.

Grand only nodded again. “Right, sure. Well, yeah, I can do the design, it’s a little extra but I think you can see, it’s very worth it.”

“You did all these?” said Gig, “Wow! They’re fantastic!”

Grand’s expression faltered slightly, as though he hadn’t quite been prepared for Gig’s level of enthusiasm. Echo hid a grin. No matter how aloof or stiff a person seemed, they had rarely seen anyone who wouldn’t fall for his charms.

“I do this show, like on youtube?” continued Gig, “Would you want to go on it, like, showcase your art?”

“My art is private,” said Grand, “I do not think the masses could truly appreciate it.”

Gig’s face fell. “Oh. That’s- that’s cool.”

Echo waited a beat for Grand’s apology, bristling slightly as it became apparent Grand was not going to make one.

“If that’s how you feel it seems weird that you want to tattoo me,” said Echo, “given that it will be seen by _the masses_.”

“Well, that’s- the masses that will see you are different,” said Grand.

“It’s fine Echo,” said Gig quietly, reaching out to squeeze their hand. “Streaming isn’t for everyone.”

Echo looked at him, studying his face. Gig’s expression was as earnest as always. They sighed.

“Fine, whatever,” said Echo. “So, my tattoo?”

Grand cleared his throat. “I… did you have anything in mind?”

“Flowers,” said Echo. “Gig’s going to help pick which ones since he’s like, basically an expert.”

Gig beamed, ducking his head a little.

“You’re a botanist?” said Grand.

“A florist,” said Gig, “My shops’s on this street, actually, just like, a little bit more towards the end. You should stop by sometime.”

Grand hummed, pulling a sketchpad from under the desk and flipping quickly to a blank page.

“So,” said Grand, “let’s talk more about this design.”

  
  


\----

  
  


It had been a long day, and so as he always did with long days, Grand dragged himself two blocks over to Cascabel’s diner. It was never actually _empty_ , or at least it had never been when he’d gone to it, but the late hour had cleared out most people. Grand nodded to Morning’s as he entered, moving to sit at the counter.

“Grand,” said Even in greeting, “the usual?”

“Thanks,” said Grand.

He pulled out his sketchbook while he waited, flicking through the day’s work. He paused on the half-finished image of flowers, his eyes tracing the design, mentally filling in the colours, calculating the time-

“That’s a new one,” said Even.

Grand startled, the book flipping shut.

Even huffed a laugh. “Sorry.”

Grand pushed the book to the side so that Even could set the plate of food down in front of him. “It’s fine, I was just… thinking.”

Even hummed, thoughtful. “Different kind of design choice. Less… angles than your usual.”

“It’s not really my design,” said Grand, “it’s a custom job. The person came in today with their florist friend.”

“Must be a big job, if you’re thinking about it so much,” said Even.

Grand took a bite to avoid answering. Even was much too good at reading him, and he would rather avoid talking about this particular job. His mind drifted back to it regardless of his intentions, reminding him of the curve of Gig’s grin or the way the light caught Echo’s eyes.

It also drifted back to how they had left the store, walking away arm in arm, their heads bent close in conversation, obviously together. A good reminder that a job was just a job, and that he shouldn’t expect… well. Anything.

“You want to talk about it?” said Even.

“Talk about what?”

“Whatever’s got you looking like,” Even gestured towards him, “that.”

“It’s nothing,” said Grand.

“But…”

Grand sighed. “You really won’t let this go, will you?”

Even grinned. “Nope.”

“I was just thinking about this customer today. Well, two of them, I guess.”

Even nodded, waiting. Grand knew from experience that Even could let a silence stretch into eternity. He shifted on his chair, huffing a breath.

“Fine. Fine! I had these two people come in and I thought they were… they were very inspirational, artistically speaking, that’s all,” said Grand.

“So ask them out, what’s the problem,” said Even.

“I- well, they-” spluttered Grand. “They were clearly… they were together, and I don’t think they… I mean, they were friendly, but they weren’t… y’know. Looking.”

Even made a sympathetic face. “Ah.”

“Like I said, it’s fine,” said Grand, “I would have only wanted to see them more for artistic reasons.”

Even laughed, reached over the counter to clap Grand on the shoulder. “Sure.”

  
  


\----

  
  


The buzzer in Grand’s shop rang out, the chimes echoing in the back room. Grand peaked his head out, frowning as he saw Gig, a huge bunch of flowers in his arms.

“Hi!” said Gig, “Hey, hello!”

“Uh. Hey,” said Grand.

“I thought you might want some real world inspiration for the flowers,” said Gig, “for Echo’s tattoo I mean.”

Gig set the flowers down on the counter. Grand quickly put a hand on the stems, stopping them from spilling over onto the floor.

“I could have just googled them,” said Grand.

“Yeah, but I’m just up the street, and it’s always much better to get the inspiration first-hand, right?” said Gig.

Grand glanced down at the flowers, the colours vibrant against the stainless steel of the counter, and back up at Gig’s face, which was just as bright.

“I… yeah, I guess,” said Grand. He paused. “Does… I don’t think Echo wanted this many flowers on them.”

“Oh,” said Gig, his hands fluttering, “No, uh, some of them are just for you? I mean, I saw them, and I thought you’d like them, that’s these-”

Gig reached forward, gathering a handful of the flowers up into a neat bunch and holding them out to Grand. Grand blinked at them, and Gig shook the bunch, prompting Grand to take them, his mind stuttering to a stop as his hand brushed Gig’s.

Grand swallowed. “I, uh. I’d better get these in water, right?”

“Yeah,” said Gig, “here, I um, I wrote down some care instructions, so they last longer. But if you have any questions about it, you can always, um. You can call me, my number’s right on there.”

“Right,” said Grand, “Well, I’d better, uh…”

He went to the back room to find something he could use as a vase, and when he came back Gig was gone, the care instruction card resting on top of the flowers on the counter.

  
  


\---

  
  


Gig groaned, stretching out his arms on the counter and putting his face down.

Morning’s laughed. “Come on, it’s not so bad.”

“I was like, here’s my number, call me! And he hasn’t texted or _anything_ .” Gig groaned again. “I shouldn’t have even done it anyway, because Echo likes him. Echo probably saw him first, timeline-wise. I bet they’re going to ask him out soon anyway, so it doesn’t matter, but still, you’d think he would at least text _some_ thing.”

“Wait, when was Echo going to ask this guy out?” said Morning .

“I don’t know, they didn’t _say_ they were going to but there was definitely a vibe when we were there,” said Gig, “I could feel it.”

“You could feel a vibe,” said Morning.

“You know,” said Gig, waving a hand, “like, there wasn’t flirting but there was _something_. Pre-flirting.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Morning, “A vibe.”

“Exactly!” said Gig. He paused, looking down at the swirling pattern of the counter. “I mean, I want Echo to be able to follow their vibes, I want… I want them to be happy.”

Morning put a hand on Gig’s shoulder. “I’m sure they would say the same thing about you.”

“Probably,” said Gig, “They’re pretty great. They’re _so_ great!”

  
  


\----

  
  


Grand was sketching at the counter when Echo walked in. He stood up, noting the lack of Gig at their side. They’d been by a couple of times, Gig always in tow, to adjust how his design was going.

“Hey,” said Echo, “Do you have a minute?”

“Sure,” said Grand, even though he didn’t really. He could always rearrange things, for Echo. “You have more ideas for your design?”

“No, I, uh…”

Echo paused, a light flush on their cheeks. Grand traced his eyes over it, noting the colour, committing it to memory.

“I was thinking about it this morning and I kind of realised we never talked about how big it was going to be,” said Echo, “Like, the only reference points we’ve used is Ballad’s and I mean, his is cool but I don’t want the flowers to be my whole _back_.”

“I did kind of think you’d be going smaller,” said Grand, “I mean, it’s your first one, people don’t normally go for a full back tattoo for that.”

Echo huffed a laugh. “Yeah, I guess.”

“So what were you thinking?”

“Like, maybe, my side?” said Echo, “Like, here.”

They put a hand on their side over their ribcage. Grand’s eyes caught on the bare skin of their waist before he dragged them to the area they were indicating too. His face felt flushed and he reached under the counter, trying to give himself some time to cool down.

Grand cleared his throat. “Uh. Yeah. Should be easy. Wouldn’t you mind if I got, um, some kind of measurement of the area? So I can make sure the design is right.”

“Sure,” said Echo.

Grand busied himself for a moment trying to find the tape measure, coming around to Echo’s side of the counter. As he held the tape out to Echo, Echo stretched an arm up.

“So you can measure,” said Echo.

Any heat Grand had been able to get away from his face came back in full force. “Uh. Right.”

He held the tape measure to Echo’s side, guiding the circle of it large or smaller, to the left, the the right, under the guidance of their soft voice. He tried to touch them as little as possible, feeling his hands sweat at the close proximity to Echo’s skin, feeling the heat of their body radiate through the fabric.

“Perfect,” murmured Echo, “that’s the right size.”

“Right,” said Grand, “Right, I’ll just, uh…”

“Here,” said Echo, reaching for a scrap of paper on the counter, “trace it with this, so you remember the shape.

Feeling as though he were in a daze, Grand took the paper from their hand, tracing the outline of the circle onto the paper, his hand flat against their ribcage with only the thin fabric of their crop top and the paper separating their skin from his.

“Done,” said Grand, standing back up, his toes curling in his boots at how close they were to one another.

“Great,” said Echo.

Neither made any move to step away.

  
  


\----

  
  


“And then?” said Cascabel.

“And then… nothing!” said Echo. “He was like _thanks for coming_ and that was it.”

“You could have said something,” said Cascabel.

“I guess, but…” Echo sighed. “I don’t know. I think Gig likes him, and I don’t want to… I don’t know. He basically never doesn’t anything for himself. If he likes this dude, I want him to have the chance to… whatever. It doesn’t even matter because the guy’s worse than Gig at picking up signals, so it’s not a problem.”

“Is that why you and Gig aren’t dating?” said Cascabel, “Lack of signals?”

Echo felt their cheeks flush. “We’re just friends.”

“Right,” said Cascabel, “Of course.”

  
  


\----

  
  


“So this is going to be the final design, huh?” said Gig, looking over Echo shoulder.

Echo shifted a little on the picnic blanket, so the design wasn’t in their shadow.

“Yeah, basically,” said Echo, “but in, like, watercolour.”

“I thought you were going to get just black lines?”

Echo shrugged.”Yeah, but Grand said it’d look cooler, and Ballad gave me the money for it, so.”

“Grand, huh?” said Gig, bumping their shoulders together.

Echo felt their cheeks flush, something in their chest twisting. “Yeah, I mean, he’s the expert, or whatever.”

“Hey,” said Gig. He put his hand over their’s, his face serious. “You should get what _you_ want.”

“I am,” said Echo, “I’m not just going to get it coloured because some guy says it looks better.”

Gig grinned, laughing a little and bumping his shoulder against their’s again.

Echo huffed a laugh. “Whatever. Tell me what these things mean again? This is like, the last chance I’ll have to change anything unless I push the tattoo date back, and I want it to have enough time to heal before fencing starts again.”

Gig hummed, leaning closer to them as he peered over the page, his finger tracing over the design. ”We’ve got ivy for long terms bonds, sea holly for independence, cornflower for strength, and protea for bravery. All the flowers that are most like you.”

Echo felt their cheeks flush again, the ache in their chest shifting into a warmer feeling. Their fingers flexed on the blanket.

“From those flowers I seem pretty great,” said Echo.

“You are pretty great,” said Gig, “you’re the _greatest_.”

  
  


\----

  
  


“I think I have a problem,” said Grand.

Even set down the coffee in front of him. “I kind of guessed that. You’re not usually in here during the day.”

“Well I’m not normally having a problem,” said Grand.

“Debatable,” said Morning as he stepped behind Even to take plates back to the kitchen.

“I’m not!” said Grand, “I have everything under control. You know. Normally. Not that this is out of control, it’s just… complicated. Or, it’s about to be.”

“About to be?” said Even.

“You know the person I was telling you about, with the custom design? I’m inking them this afternoon,” said Grand.

Even waited for a moment. “And?”

“Any then that’ll be it! I’ll never see them or their boyfriend again!”

“That sounds like the opposite of a problem,” said Morning, coming back out.

He handed Even a lemonade. Even glanced through the window, catching Cascabel’s eye. Cascabel blew a kiss, and Even laughed.

“This is serious!” said Grand.

“Right, yes,” said Even. He paused. “Wait, how is this serious? Two people how you’ve been stressing out every time you see are now going to be finished with the tattoo and you won’t have to see them anymore.”

“But I don’t know-” Grand made a frustrated sound, running a hand through his hair. “I want to say something to them.”

“Maybe you should,” said Even, “I mean, wait until the end, since that flower tattoo sounds like it’ll be a big job, but-”

Beside him, Morning made an odd sound, his eyes going wide. Even shot him a look.

“Nothing,” said Morning, “Actually, uh, who’s the tattoo for again?”

“Echo,” sighed Grand.

“And you think they’re boyfriend is Gig,” said Morning.

Grand frowned. “He is.”

“I- I’ll be right back,” said Morning.

He quickly turned and walked into the kitchen.

Grand sighed again, dramatically. “I just don’t know what I’m going to _do_.”

There was a clattering sound in the kitchen.

“ _What_?” said Morning.

“Excuse me,” said Even.

Grand nodded, slumping in his seat as dramatically as possible.

Even stepped into the kitchen. “Are you alright?”

“I-” Cascabel laughed, putting a hand over his mouth to muffle the sound. “I just, oh my god, Even, you have to listen to this-”

“Last week,” said Morning, “Gig was in here, saying how _he_ wanted to ask Grand out, but he still _totally_ seems into Echo, and Echo told Cascabel that the only reason they didn’t ask Grand out was because they thought Gig wanted to.”

“And Grand’s out there,” said Cascabel, “moping because he thinks they’re dating-”

“They _wish_ they were dating,” said Morning.

Even rubbed a hand over his face. “Oh my god. It makes us look like we really had our shit together, doesn’t it babe?”

Cascabel laughed, leaning up to kiss Even. “We should help them.”

“How?” said Even, “It seems like a pretty complicated- Morning where are you going?”

Morning pushed through the doors into the diner. ‘Hey, Grand, here’s what you should do, you should just ask them out.”

“What?” said Grand.

“Yeah, what’s the worst that could happen, you don’t see them again?” said Morning, “You weren’t going to see them again before.”

Cascabel and Even exchanged a look.

“Well,” said Cascabel, “That was kind of what I was going to suggest.”

Even huffed a breath. “Good luck Grand.”

“He doesn’t need luck,” said Cascabel, “He has love.”

  
  


\----

  
  


Echo was sitting on the bench, their hand in Gig’s as they waited for Grand.

Grand cleared his throat once, then twice. “Uh. Hi.”

Gig grinned. “Hey!”

“You, uh-” his gaze went again to their joined hands.

Echo frowned. “You okay?”

“I uh-” Grand cleared his throat again, pulling his gaze away for a moment before it drifted back to their hands, the casual way their fingers interlaced together. “I didn’t know you were together. I mean, I knew you were _together_ but-”

“We’re not dating,” said Echo.

“You’re not?” said Grand.

“Wait is that why you didn’t ask me out?” said Echo

“Is that why you didn’t call me?” said Gig at the same time.

“Yes,” said Grand, “Wait, uh. So you’re not…”

“I mean, no,” said Echo, their hand falling from Gig’s.

“Obviously, yeah,” said Gig, “They like you, so-”

“But I like you too”, said Echo, “I want- You should be happy.”

“But I want _you_ to be happy,” said Gig, “I… I care about you too much to take something from you.”

He took Echo’s hand. Echo looked from their joined hands to his face, their eyes widening.

“You… Gig…” said Echo, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Gig gave them a lopsided smile. “I didn’t want to get in your way.”

Echo reached up, cupping Gig’s cheek. “You’re not.”

Gig’s breath hitched. “I- Echo, you’re… I meant what I said before. You’re all those flowers and more.”

Grand cleared his throat. Echo blinked, their hand sliding down to rest on Gig’s chest.

“I. Uh,” said Grand. “Does this mean you guys _are_ dating?”

Echo blinked. “Maybe. Would that stop you from asking either of us out?”

“Uh… Not if it’s not a problem?” said Grand.

Echo looked up. “Gig?”

Gig smiled. “It kind of sounds like the opposite of a problem to me.”

Echo grinned. “Good.”

They held their hand out to Grand, motioning him forward. Grand swallowed, his chest feeling tight as he stepped forward to take their hand. He felt Gig put a hand on his shoulder and he leant into the warmth of Gig’s body without quite meaning to.

“I guess you should probably get started on the tattoo, huh?” said Echo.

“I, uh.” Grand paused. “I mean, I don’t- my schedule’s pretty clear, for today. We can take five.”

Echo huffed a laugh, resting their head against Grand’s shoulder. “Right.”

Above him, Gig hummed, sliding his arms around them both.

“Maybe ten,” said Grand, “I can be flexible.”

“Gig has that effect on people,” said Echo dryly.

“So do you,” said Gig and Grand, at the same time.

Echo laughed, the sound of it vibrating against Grand’s chest, melting the tight feeling into a slowly-spreading warmth.

He wouldn’t say it aloud, but maybe he could even push it to fifteen minutes. For them, he could make time.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi: mariusperkins on most places


End file.
